


Signs from the Living Stars

by Livvy_london



Category: The Lost Fleet - Jack Campbell
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24680470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livvy_london/pseuds/Livvy_london
Summary: The victory of the Alliance against the Syndics began with the revival of John "Black Jack" Geary from 100 years of survival sleep. What if it didn't?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Signs from the Living Stars

"Absolutely incredible," boomed the voice of the Admiral onboard the battle cruiser Dauntless, as he paced back and forth in the hangar bay. "To find an escape pod out here after so long. No battles have been fought here since the system was abandoned, and the last prisoners of war would have been picked up months ago. I wonder who it could be..." He turned to the commander of the ship, Captain Tanya Desjani, who stood respectfully a short distance to his right. He smiled at Desjani, his smile almost artificially wide.

A small shuttle was tugging the escape pod into the hangar - then the hatch sealed and the atmosphere repressurised. The pod was a big bulky thing even in its damaged state. The modern ones were designed to cram in as many as a dozen crew members if needed, with the food medical and life support supplies to go with that need. This one was similar, if a little smaller, and under its crumpled hull, Desjani would guess only 2 people could have comfortably fit inside. The smaller size would have been been indicative of a freight vessel's escape pod, which were only staffed by small crews, but the design was unmistakably military.

“If I may say, Admiral Bloch, heat and energy signatures were incredibly faint. It’s there, but it’s incredibly unlikely anyone is still alive in the pod’s condition.” She informed him respectfully. If Bloch heard Desjani, he didn’t show it. The two officers paced around the outside of the escape pod slowly, Desjani giving orders to Lieutenant Siregar walking behind her. Reaching the far side of the damaged spacecraft, the captain noted a slightly battered series of digits stamped into the pod’s hull.

"Run the number for me lieutenant?" she asked, more of an order than a question. 

At that moment a fully kitted engineering crew marched through the bay door, followed by a senior doctor and a junior assistant with a tablet on his heels.  
The engineers skirted around their superior officers to begin work on breaking through the outside of the craft, while the doctors stepped up towards their captain. The team’s welders fired up, sparking brightly as they cut through the metal and she turned away from the light to overlook the rest of the bustling hangar.

“Ma’am,” started lieutenant Siregar cautiously, catching Desjani’s attention, “It looks like the serial number matches the heavy cruiser Merlon, the same ship that was destroyed at the battle of Grendel.” 

“Then this sailor here could be a subordinate of the legendary Black Jack Geary’s, or even have known him personally..” The admiral mused. The senior doctor cut in before Desjani could reply,

“Knowing that that battle was over 100 years ago, if there are 2 people in there, there’s no chance they’d be alive. And if there’s 1, it’s very slim. Survival sleep wasn’t designed to support someone for that long.”

“Thank you for your assessment Doctor.” She responded. The division leader moved to stand beside Siregar, as the engineers moved the scrap metal away with a final heave. Stale, cold air wafted out from the gap, misting in the temperature difference and condensing in the hangar as it cleared.

A gasp rippled through the room followed by a moment of stunned silence.

“By the living stars.” Bloch breathed, looking down at the sole occupant of the pod. “Is he...?”

In the pause, the senior doctor spoke,  
“The great Jack Black Geary himself? Absolutely. Alive? I’m afraid we might be out of luck.”

“You can’t revive him? He’s only been in stasis.” Bloch asked, but the doctor shook his head.

“I’ve seen cases like this, when damaged escape craft with too many people inside were found after a few years. The water in his cells would have been crystallised as the life support gave out and the temperature dropped. You can recover tissue from cryo in a controlled way, but we can’t bring back a whole person in this state. The crystals will shred his cells and destroy him on the cellular level.”

Desjani spoke now,  
“Can you give us an estimate on how long he’s been dead then?”

“It’s difficult to say with survival sleep just by eye. We’d have to do a full examination. Maybe the pod can give more clues.” He looked to the lead engineer next to him who nodded sharply and faced Bloch, 

“We’ll have that answer to you within fifteen minutes sir.”

“Make it ten.”

Desjani looked down at the legend’s final resting place in the cold crushed remains of the escape pod. His lapel was strangely empty of the many medals that Black Jack was normally depicted with, in the murals across alliance space - The highest medal was only his commander rank, far removed from the Captain rank he was always shown with, that had been granted after his death. The blazer was slightly rumpled, no doubt from his extended time in the pod or possibly even from his final moments aboard his final ship, the Merlon. The rest of his posture seemed a lot more peaceful. Perfectly frozen in time, through his survival sleep, his face was more youthful than she expected, mouth slightly parted and eyes closed. She wondered if his eyes were as cold and commanding as she had imagined.

“What should we do with him?”  
The unexpected question startled her for a moment, before she composed herself and turned to the admiral.

“What do you see as the options?”

“He could be returned to the star here at Grendel. Or we could bring him back to Alliance with us, and bury him on Glenlyon or Unity or wherever.” He waved one hand with a flourish.

“I think a respectful burial here would be the most peaceful. I’d say that’s what ‘Black Jack’ himself would do for any Alliance soldier.” She recommended with a subtle frown. Bloch nodded, looking down at Geary’s body.

“I’ll put it to vote then, before we go into jump space,” The admiral concluded, seemingly ignoring the captain’s suggestion, “I for one would like to bring him home. Bringing him, and the victory against the Syndics at Prime on our back, would be a perfect return to the Alliance.”

A sailor stepped up, the badge on his uniform indicating his name, E. Martel, and his position in the engineering division. 

“We have the answer on the date of death for you, sir. There were 100 years of records to look through but we got it.

“The last record was dated 100 years, 3 months and 14 days after the first activation of the escape pod’s box. Since that would likely be the day of the Syndics first attack at Grendell that started the war with Geary’s last stand, we worked out that the escape pod finally died about 3 weeks ago.”

There was a heavy pause. Even the surrounding buzz of work-chatter in the hangar seemed to die down. 

“The ventilator for life support failed two weeks before that,” he continued in a quieter voice, “So that was probably the real date of death.”

“The great Black Jack Geary, suspended in space for 100 years, died just a month before we found him.” Bloch said, more to himself than anyone present.

The ensign’s eyes strayed away from his superior’s faces and down to Geary’s as they mulled over the information.

“Thank you Martel.” Captain Desjani said, dismissing the engineer, who dutifully returned to his post.

“May he rest among the living stars. It would have been nice to meet the real legend in person, but I’m certain this is a sign that his spirit will guide us now in our battle at Prime,” a few of the nearby sailors who heard the confident statement smiled widely. He stepped back and smoothed down his uniform. “I’d best be going, I have a fleet to command after all.”

And with that the admiral left the hangar. The captain stayed a moment longer, gazing down at Black Jack’s body, before one of the medical staff stepped in front of her field of view. She pulled herself together, steeling her spine.

“Good work. Make sure all the proper tests and checks are done then move him to the clinic and cannibalise the metal.” she announced loudly to the room, then left herself. She also had a command post to return to and a battle to prepare for.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is titled like a series, but it's definitely not supposed to be. The summary also seems to imply the alliance will be victorious without him, but I doubt it.  
> [I wanted to extend this and write in a few of my favourite commanders/captains but it’s good for now. The Lost Fleet series is very long and there's no reference data online for specific things on the small scale - I didn't reread the books again for this so forgive any glaring issues.]


End file.
